MLB Interleague Play

I wanted to do a post about MLB interleague play for a couple of days, but have had some amazing NBA playoff games to write about instead.

I enjoy interleague play. I like seeing matchups you don't see every day and I'm a sucker for nicknames like "Windy City Series" and "Beltway Series" and "I-70 Series" and of course the "Freeway Series"

The only thing I can't stand about interleague play is that it creates an environment for unfairness.

Interleague play is unfair because NL teams, for one, don't all play the same number of interleague games as each other. Some play 12, some play 15, some play 18. This is because the NL has 2 more teams than the AL. From this, strength of schedule discrepancies arise, and in a sport with only one wild card spot for the playoffs, every game counts.

Another thing that drives me crazy is that the NL has the pitcher batting and the AL as the DH. I don't care one way or another, but there's no reason to have the difference. If I had to pick I would have the NL switch to allowing the DH, but I won't go into that today.

The NBA doesn't have differences in strength of schedule. Each team plays 52 conference games (4 against every other team) and 30 non conference games (2 against every other team). Fair and elegant. Very nice Dave Stern.

The NFL has obvious disparity from team to team in strength of schedule, but when you have 32 teams and 17 weeks to play the games, a disparity is unavoidable unless you expand the schedule to 31 weeks. To help remedy this, there are two wild card spots for each conference for the playoffs. I don't hold it against you Roger Goodell, just stop this whole NFL games in Europe shenanigans.

The MLB has no excuse for a disparity in strength of schedule. There are 182 games in the season and they only have one wild card spot for each league. Either expand the playoffs or create a more even regular season.

My Proposal:
Move the Houston Astros to the AL West. Why does the NL Central have 6 teams and the AL West 4? This makes no sense to begin with. Make the divisions even in number.
Each NL team plays two 2-game series with each AL team (15 teams, 60 games)
Each NL team plays two 3-game series with each non-divison NL team (10 teams, 60 games)
Each NL team plays two 4-game series with each team in its division (4 teams, 32 games)
Vice-versa for AL teams.
That's 152 games. The MLB season is too long anyway, shorten it while you're at it.
Add two more teams to each league playoff and reward the best two teams with byes.

This combines the approaches of the NBA and the NFL and I think would make for a structure and schedule that makes much more sense. This creates 4 more playoff series, which equates to between 16 and 28 playoff games, which would more than make up for the lost revenue of the 10 games lost per team (150 games lost overall).

Would Bud Selig go for this? I don't see why not. He seems like a reasonable guy for the most part. Shortening the season would be the hardest sell.

I should find out his email address and let him know of my idea, but I'm sure he's heard a million ideas like mine before.

*edit* for some reason when I was writing the post I thought the MLB season was 182 games, probably thinking of the 82-game NBA season. anyway, the appropriate changes have been made.